what does this mean? [28 letters long]?

Question

antidisestablishmentarianism

[what does it mean?]

Answer 1

Main Entry: antidisestablishmentarianism
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: originally, opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England, now opposition to the belief that there should no longer be an official church in a country
Example: When people are asked for the longest word they know, they often say antidisestablishmentarianism.

Answer 2

Antidisestablishmentarianism listen (help·info) originated in the context of the nineteenth century Church of England, where "antidisestablishmentarians" were opposed to proposals to remove the Church's status as the state church of England. The movement succeeded in England, but failed in Ireland and Wales, with the Church of Ireland being disestablished in 1871 and the Church in Wales in 1920. Antidisestablishmentarian members of the Free Church of Scotland delayed merger with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in a dispute about the position of the Church of Scotland. The term has largely fallen into disuse, although the issue itself is still current (see Act of Settlement 1701).

The word antidisestablishmentarianism, with 28 letters, is the longest accepted word in the English language. There are other words, however, that are longer. For example: Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious is a nonsense word meaning fantastic. However, since it was taken from Mary Poppins, a fantasy novel for children, it is not as yet considered to be a real "word." The claim that "antidisestablishmentarianism" is the longest word in the English language is actually quite arguable, since antidisestablishmentarianism is used seriously in academic and ecclesiastical writing about the Church of England when the concept arises, which it does occasionally (See e.g. Hastings and "Some notes on the Church of England and Establishment", below). However, since 1992 it has lost this title to floccinaucinihilipilification in the Guinness Book of Records. (see also: Longest word in English)

If the word is taken literally, it could mean 'against the enemies of the establishment, but not necessarily aligned with the establishment'. To make an example: If you take terrorism to be against the establishment, and thus disestablishmentarian, then those who oppose terrorism (but don't necessarily support the target of terrorism) could be said to be displaying antidisestablishmentarianism.

Antidisestablishmentarianism might still be the longest word not invented for the specific purpose of being a long word, however. (the word floccinaucinihilipilification may have been invented as a joke, and is an amalgamation of four Latin words[citation needed]). Presumably its creation invoked the irony of its length, and may have to do with the politics and commentary of the time period. Also, some criticise its validity on the basis that it has two prefixes ("anti-" and "dis"-) and three suffixes ("-ment", "-arian" and "-ism"), stating that it is not only possible to create a number of longer meaningful words by adding ever more prefixes, but that "antidisestablishmentarianism" is not a standalone word because of them. For example, theoretically "antiantidisestablishmentarianism" is a valid word, where it refers specifically to antidisestablishmentarians' opponents, rather than merely disestablishmentarians in general.

Hope this helps

Answer 3

Main Entry: antidisestablishmentarianism
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: originally, opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England, now opposition to the belief that there should no longer be an official church in a country
Example: When people are asked for the longest word they know, they often say antidisestablishmentarianism.

Answer 4

The term has its origin in the 17th century Church of England. The antidisestablishmentarians were opposed to removing the status of the Church of England as the official state church of England.

Most people know of this word but have no idea what it means, only that it is very long.

Answer 5

Difficult, but this is what I think (could be wrong though, since my englsih is good enough to post here, but I don't know all the words)

antidisestablishmentarianism is just establishmentarianism, since 'anti' means 'against' and 'dis' is something like 'not'

so agianst disestablishmentarianism is pro establishmentarianism

An establishement is a shop for instance. To establish something is to set up or the settle something

antidisestablishmentarianism means something like againts not establishing, so establishmentarianism is wanting to establish something, to set something up

This is taking the word very literly, and I had to think it up myself, since I've never heard of this word before :)

Answer 6

Google defines as:

Being opposed to the belief that there should no longer be an official church a the country. The word is sometimes quoted as the longest word in the English language. There is a town in Wales with a larger number of letters, but it is a place name, not a word.

Answer 7

It doesn't really mean anything and I don't think it ever did (although I suppose you could contrive a definition by successively applying the varous prefixes and suffixes to the root "establish"). People are always interested in (some might say fixated on) the longest word, the shortest word, most number of vowels, least number of vowels, etc. and some enterprising soul hit upon "establish" which he/she could elongate through the quasi-legitimate addition of various prefixes and suffixes.

Answer 8

establismentarianism = doctrine of supporting the social or political establishment.

Double negative ( Anti dis) cancel each other out,
so the 26 letters long word isjust a bloated form of establismentarianism.

Phew! Thank god for cut and paste. Or I would nevr have tried answering this, I am right, ain't I?

Answer 9

one of the longest words in the dictionary. means "against the opposition of the establishment of opposing being against... stuff"

longest word is actually a lung disease called...

pneumonoultramicroscopiccovol-
coniosis

Answer 10

To listen.